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Monday, December 14, 2015

New Addition: Qualification Phase, Part One (USSR 1986 World Cup Qualifiers)

Following
USSR’s elimination from qualifying to the Finals of Euro 1984, the Soviet
Authorities dismissed The Manager Valeri Lobanovsky.

The
new man in charge that they appointed was former Dinamo Minsk Manager Eduard
Malofeyev. He had led Dinamo Minsk to the Soviet League Title in the Fall of
1982 and now his mission was qualification for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Malofeyev
could still call upon the backbone of the team that included players from
Spartak Moscow (goalkeeper Rinat Dassayev, Yuri Gavrilov), Dinamo Tblissi
(Chivadze, Sulakvelidze), not to mention the Dinamo Kiev contingent (Baltacha,
Bessonov, Demiannenko, Blokhin).

Many
of his former Minsk players (Aleinkov, Gotsmanov, Zigmantovich and Kondratiev)
now had opportunities in the new regime.

Dnipropetrovsk
pair of Gennadi Litovchenko and excellent striker Oleg Protasov were also now
in International reckoning after helping Dnipro win the Soviet League title in
the Fall of 1983.

USSR
played a number of friendlies in 1984 in preparation for the World Cup
qualifiers that would start in September.

Their
best display was in defeating England at Wembley (June 2, 1984, 2-0).

Malofeyev
experimented in these matches and included many of the aforementioned new
Dinamo Minsk and Dnipro players.

Their
World Cup qualifying group included Denmark, who had surprised everyone during
the 1984 European Championships. The others were Republic of Ireland,
Switzerland and Norway.

The
World Cup qualifiers started on September 12th with an away trip at
Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland. The hosts won this hard fought match
(1-0). In general the Soviets would find traveling difficult for these
qualifiers.

The
second match at Oslo vs. Norway on October 10th was also
disappointing as the Soviets could only manage a (1-1) tie. Litovchenko replied
with a goal in the 74th minute, after the Soviets had gone behind
twenty minutes earlier to a Hallvar Thoresen penalty kick (awarded after
Rodionov had fouled Thoresen in the box). For this match at Norway, Oleg
Blokhin had been dropped. Officially, it had been stated that his
unavailability was due to injury. Many believed it was because he had quarreled
with his teammates.

In
the New Year (1985), Malofeyev took the squad to participate in the Jawaharlal
Nehru Cup in India.

They
came back victorious after wins vs. China, Iran, Morocco and a Final win vs.
Yugoslavia.

In
preparation for the away qualifier at Berne vs. Switzerland, the Soviets took
upon Austria in a friendly at Tblissi and won (2-0).

After
two disappointing away performances, the Soviets were eager to come away with a
positive result vs. the Swiss. They seemed to be headed to a rare away victory
after Demianenko had given them the lead with ten minutes remaining. However,
Andre Egli scored Switzerland’s equalizer at the death to deprive the USSR of
its first win in the group.

Two
weeks later they faced the same opponents on home turf. Malofeyev had vowed
they USSR would play an attacking game at home. They tore apart Switzerland and
scored four goals (two apiece by Protasov and Kondratiev) in just the first
half. Future Ballon d’Or winner Igor Belanov made his debut for the Soviet
Union by coming on for Litovchenko with ten minutes left.

On June 5th, they faced the impressive Denmark squad at Copenhagen.
What more can be said about one of the most referenced matches in the history
of Football. This match has gone down as a perfect example of attacking and
attractive Football being played by both teams. Denmark won (4-2), but despite
the loss, the Soviets were praised for their approach.

The
authorities fearing a disaster at the World Cup, removed Malofeyev from his
post and re-appointed Valeri Lobanovsky as National Team Manager.

Lobanovsky
flooded the squad with his own Dinamo Kiev players and installed Belanov and
Zavarov in leading roles.

The
Soviets were impressive in the first round of the Finals, which included the
(6-0) hammering of Hungary. They were eliminated in the second round by Belgium
(3-4). Igor Belanov and Alexander Zavarov’s performances earned the former the
Ballon d’Or and the latter the Soviet Player of the year Award.